IBM sets tough efficiency challenge

IBM has set out a challenge for itself to make the data centers it runs much more energy efficient. With a US$1 billion a year budget, the company has said it aims to improve the technology used in its data centers so that by 2010 they are all running double the computing power with no increase in energy usage.

The way in which the company intends to do this involves a combination of hardware, software, and supporting services. Software and hardware will be used to allow cooling to be more efficient, while the computers themselves are monitored and used more effectively. Meanwhile, they will also be monitored to see when they are not in use–at which point, they will go into a stand-by mode to save energy.

IBM also has a new cooling system it intends to implement that no longer cools the data centers all the time, instead turning the cooling on and off as necessary. This will be complimented by changes to the way the hardware is put together to allow more airflow through the same space.

IBM is the largest provider of data centers, and–even though it has set itself this target–it does intend to offer the resulting techniques and technology to its customers. In so doing, it will also be the trigger for other data centers not under its control to start becoming more efficient.

Speaking of the challenge, senior vice president for IBM's technology group, William M. Zeitler, said:

We decided it was critical to mobilize the full resources of the company to attack the problem… this is approaching a crisis for many of our clients.

IBM is a member of The Green Grid, which is a consortium of companies that aim to lower power consumption in data centers around the world. Its board members include AMD, Intel, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Sun, VMWare, Rackable, Spraycool, and APC.

MATTHEW'S OPINION
That's quite a challenge the company has set for itself, but not one it would be so public about if it didn't believe it could do it. It's encouraging to see such a large and influential organization such as IBM taking the lead when it comes to energy efficiency. We should now be able to turn around to companies in 2011/12 and ask why they aren't running data centers as efficiently as IBM. By then, if IBM achieves its goal, there should be no good answer to that question.

Energy prices aren't going to get any cheaper until we find an alternative to oil and gas that is as abundant. That could take a very long time, so we not only need to be efficient for the sake of the planet, but also to allow computing to remain affordable in the long term. It is only through getting the major companies such as IBM and Intel to be energy efficient at the manufacturing and design stages that we can achieve this.

As consumers, we can do our bit too such as turning off machines when we don't need them and choosing energy efficient components.

USER COMMENTS 1 comment(s)

Excellent(10:00pm EST Sun May 13 2007)This is an excellent initiative. Conserving electricity is a lot easier and cheaper than generating electricity. Well done IBM and The Green Grid. – by Moose